Short Story

The cool night air brushed across Sergeant Blake’s
face making him aware of the cold beads of sweat that dominated his forehead.
He stood silent, looked down, and willed his breathing to a slower cadence. “Calm
down now,” he whispered, quietly enough for his benefit, but not loud enough
for those things to hear. “Calm...
down.”

He slowly looked up at the night sky. There wasn’t a
cloud in sight and the Moon was almost full. It may as well be a floodlight, he
thought, and cursed his lack of good luck.

He grimaced as he took a step forward. Looking down at
his leg, he saw the sticky crimson that had spread over the bottom of his fatigues.
His right leg was in a bad way. Would it turn him? He didn’t know. What he did
know was that he vowed to kill ten of these things for each member of his squad
that had been slaughtered. Turned or not, he had hours to take out his
retribution, and he still had plenty of ammo to do it.

He checked his semi-automatic shotgun, then limped out
from between the two houses and out onto the deserted street, a location just
off the city’s downtown core. It was a city without a population, at least a
human one. He scanned down one end of the street and then the other
– nothing. Strange, it was far too quiet. He paused for a moment to listen
more intently.

For the first few seconds he heard only the wind as it
whistled through the bare branches of the few trees, and then... he heard it. A
chill raked over his spine. The distant tell tale sounds crept into his ears.
The scraping sounds of dozens of shoes on pavement came from the far east end
of the street. They were the sounds made by dirty work boots, scuffed-up dress
shoes, worn-out sneakers, and even blood-splattered nurse shoes. No matter how
many times he heard it, the sound of shoes dragging in perfect unison always
freaked him out. Each one of those rotting things fell into the same shambling
rhythm of the whole as they came together.

Now, like a wave of decay, they came down the street. Soon,
he could make out the grotesque silhouettes of those mindless things as they
headed slowly toward him. They must have smelled him, and they were hungry.
They were always hungry. His men had been the main course; they assumed he was
going to be the dessert. Well, he would give them something to eat, he mused as
he clenched his jaw with determination. He raised his shotgun and waited for
them to come.

The sound of the shuffling dead was broken by the
deafening shotgun blast. A shadowy head exploded into shadowy bits like a
sickening firework burst. The headless corpse crumpled forward to the ground
with a heavy thud. The group stopped. Dead silence. Dozens of pairs of
florescent green eyes focused on Blake. Their stench invaded his nostrils. It
was like the smell of a grocery store dumpster on a hot summer’s day times ten.

The sergeant fired again, resulting in another head
explosion. The group paused once more to turn and look at their second decapitated
member. Thank God these things are as dumb as dirt, Blake thought, and fired
again. They were slow, stupid, and yet... they had managed to corner him and
his men between two apartment buildings earlier.

Once the group had figured out what was going on, they
surged forward, forcing Blake to back up down the street to keep his distance. He
knew he didn’t have enough shells to kill them all, but he wanted to kill as
many as he could, minus the ammo needed to make it back to the bunker. Anyway,
it felt good, like the satisfaction one gets when popping a stubborn zit. Yeah,
that’s what they are, Blake thought, pus-filled zits who’s heads needed
popping, and he was just the guy to do it.

Like the Pied Piper and his rats, Blake tempted them
to follow him. Shots continued to echo, dehydrated heads exploded, and
rag-covered bodies crumpled to the cold asphalt one after the other.

So absorbed with his killing spree, Blake failed to
see the second large group coming up behind him from the west. By the time he
realized it he was surrounded. He frantically scanned around for an opening.
The north side of the street was the thinnest, maybe ten zombies. Without
hesitation he ran-limped north and opened fire at the nearest dead thing, then
a second and third, clearing enough space to make it through the small group’s
centre and into the safety of an alley. He swiftly disappeared into its
darkness.

“Fuck!” Blake yelled when he reached the dead end of
the alley. Before him loomed a ten-foot concrete wall ominously lit by the moonlight.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Each curse was louder than the last. But the words brought
no comfort, and the scrapping sounds became louder behind him. His heart sank
to his feet. He was dead; he knew it, there was no doubt.

Without the luxury of time his only instinct was to get
angry. If he was going down, he would take as many of them with him as
possible. The sergeant turned and headed straight for the mob, a tugboat into
the path of a tsunami.

The shotgun blasts echoed through the alley. Flash
after flash, corpse after corpse dropped, and still they came like an endless
flood. The alley was wall to wall with rotting flesh when Blake ran out of
ammo. Forced up against the giant, tombstone-like wall, they surrounded him, and
piled up on him. He gagged on their stench as they tore him apart, each one ravenous,
and fighting for their share of the tasty, warm meat.

“Game over, man!” he screamed with his last breath.

Zombies Killed: 37

Your Rank: Private First Class

Play Again? Yes / No

Thank you for playing Zombie Bedlam.

“Shit!” Zachary yelled as he turned off his computer
in frustration.

“What did you say?” the boy’s mother scolded. She had heard
him as she was walking past his room. Now she stood waiting sternly for the
reply at his door.

“Sorry, Mom. It’s just that, well... How do they
expect me to kill that many zombies with just a stupid shotgun?”

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
RobertGMoons

kbranchflower6:
It was so intricate! I loved it. She knew that what she was doing was stupid and did it anyway. It’s such an out of the norm book and I absolutely loved it! It really showed how we go back to things even if they hurt us. I really hope you will have more books for us to read!

SeanSavage:
Good plot that moves fairly quickly. Time passage somewhat vague. but not indecipherable. Very good syntax, grammar and punctuation. The story flowed very well, however, the breaks between chapters and the time jumps tended to be slightly confusing at first. I could see where the author was going...

Aditya Harikrish:
It had me on tenterhooks since the very first page. Excllently developed plot and characters. You've done an amazing job of building a fantasy world from scratch. Hats off to you!A sequel is a must.

Sammy Styles:
It is one of those stories that keeps you on the hook till the last moment. A roll of pictures were piling up and with continuous moving, it was like I was watching a film. The scenes were dramatic with a bit of every emotion. The story contains every essence of mystery, romance and adventur...

Nishant Jain:
I felt as if i am watching a movie,not reading a book. The story was definitely interesting. It was more of action than horror for me. There are a few grammatical and spelling errors I came across and at times I found it difficult to imagine some things which the author is trying to convey, but o...

Kashaf Azmat:
The concept is excellent everything is well defined that you can picture the whole scenario which makes you feel connected to the plot and this is the thing that catches my eye and this what i am looking for in every novel.Keep it up

Jason Phang:
I'm pretty new to Inkitt (this is only my 4th book) and I must say I've been thoroughly impressed by the quality of the authors here. Remnants of Chaos is an excellently written book that hooks the reader, and doesn't let go. There are some grammatical and typographical errors, but nothing too se...

Deleted User:
What a story. It may be short and small but it is mighty and massive in creativity. However, I did not feel any romance in the story rather than a lot of horror. It was a great read and I cannot wait to see what this author has next on the agenda. Sometimes short stories have the best content and...

iann4701:
I'm no expert but I know when I have read a good book and this was one. From the beginning it had me wondering where it was going next and what the outcome would be. If you fancy a read with a slightly different perspective from the norm then I would certainly give this book a read. I will look o...

danijelstoilkovic:
I really like this story. The characters, the mysteries, that bonding in the end, but I would really like to see what happened next. Is there a second part? And this would really be one cool horror movie and if I was the director, I wouldn't change a thing.It's awesome!

Shelley Miller:
The ideas and the set up and this are amazing! The feel of the story goes from science fiction to horror to suspense all in a big, thrilling ball. I really like your character so far and her powers and the idea of the ark being a person. The world is intense and gritty and clever as well. While a...

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